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Offset because I miss marked center when I drilled. Shortshank because I screwed up the shank and had to shorten it to fix it.
The only other thing my untrained eye sees it the bowl rim is about half a mm thinner on one side to the other. I plan to fix that, but wanted to post first to see what else is wrong with it.
Apologies for the lighting, each was taken with the same settings in the same place but only two came out bright of about a dozen shots.
I hope to be at least half the person my dogs thinks I am.
I've made all the same mistakes. From the perspective of it just being a pipe the real issue, of course, is the offset shank. It won't affect how it smokes but it is noticeable and there isn't much you can do about it. In profile the bowl shape looks pretty good. Try to make the back line of the bowl more vertical and the transition to the shank more pronounced (closer to 90 degrees) in order to get the classic billiard shape.
Others may have some more advice on shaping.
The grain on the right side of the bowl looks like it will have a lot of beautiful eyes so polish it up real good when you get done shaping. It should look really good.
The way I've had some success with the drill press, at least with straight stems is this: Get a drill press vice, or clamp or homemade jig or something and get everything lined up to do you stem drilling. Once clamped down don't move it until all the drilling is done. (I may have said all this before, if so, sorry.) First, I use a Forschner bit to square the face of the shank that will accept the stem. Then, I drill the mortise hole. Then, if my draw hole is a straight shot, I drill it. Then, I use a hole saw (drill bit removed) that is slightly bigger around than the shank. That way you start with a perfectly round shank with the mortise dead in the middle of it and the draw hole dead down the middle too and the face of the shank ready to match up with your stem. If the draw hole has to be angled I do the other steps then loosen the vice and using a square I line the draw hole line up with my long drill bit and drill the draw hole. It is tricky when you have to do it that way but is sure better than doing it with a hand drill or just eyeballing it on the drill press.
As usual take all of my advice with a grain of salt as I'm only a few steps ahead of you in all this.
I finished it out. Whats wrong: Stem to shank fit, I just couldn't fix the damage done. I need to study on that. Offset shank; addressed already.
What I hope is at least close to right: Bowl shape, and finish job. Im not sure why, but my pictures make the bowl look out of round, its just the pic from the bottom not the pipe.
I hope to be at least half the person my dogs thinks I am.
